Once again, Victor polls its residents

The effort is part of an updating of two of the town’s plans, but some wonder if the expense is worth it.

Jessica Pierce

The town wants to put its finger on the pulse of residents and business owners yet again.

In January, residents and business owners will be asked to take part in a townwide survey that will be conducted on behalf of the Town Board as part of its year-old Strategic Plan and a just-started update to the separate Comprehensive Plan. It’s the second survey of its kind in just over two years.

“It’s a very specific opportunity for us to see how we're really doing and to track that over time,” said Penny Ciaburri, who was hired by the town in June 2006 to facilitate the Strategic Plan.

A year earlier, the town paid Harris Interactive and Cornell University about $50,000 to survey residents and hold a series of public meetings to find out what residents like or dislike about their hometown. The survey asked them questions on all kinds of topics, and asked how participants would prefer the town spend $5 million — on the purchase of open land, a new Town Hall or a recreation center, to name a few options.

The Harris survey became something of a political football, however, in the 2005 campaign season, with candidates each offering different interpretations of the survey to show how it backed their platforms.

Some involved in creating the Strategic Plan last year question the need for a second survey. John Palomaki, who was just elected to a seat on the Town Board and will take office in January, is among
them. He feels that the information collected from the Harris survey should be used along with what has been collected by the various Strategic Plan task forces that were made up of dozens of residents.

Plus, he said, “I think the timing is bad right now — the board is going to change, and we’re in the middle
of the holiday season.”

Michael Weidner, who was on two of the Strategic Plan task forces, said the latest survey is “well-intentioned” but he questions if it’s needed.

“Obviously it’s never a bad idea to get the pulse of a community,” he said, “but every two or three years a new group comes in and says, ‘Oh, we should do a survey.’ Everybody’s got a new idea for how to plan, but there’s no consistency. That’s a surefire way to spend money and get nothing done.”

He added: “If we’re going to do a survey, let’s do a survey that’s going to give us some insight as to how to move forward rather than a report card of how we’ve been doing in the last four years.”

But when it comes to Strategic Plans, report cards — or “benchmarks” as they are formally called — are important, Ciaburri said. “It will allow us to see, as we progress through the Strategic Plan and probably the Comprehensive Plan, how well we’re doing,” she said. “It gives us objective data — we don’t want to just guess. We want to prove we’re making gains.”

What’s more, the latest survey will be vastly different than the Harris survey, Ciaburri pointed out. While the Harris survey used a sampling of about 700 residents, the Strategic Plan survey will be offered to all residents and business owners.

The survey will be done mostly through the Internet, though hard copies will be made available to citizens who don’t have access to the Web or just prefer paper. Specific questions still need to be finalized and approved by the Town Board. Questions will range from how well the town follows its mission of
protecting natural resources, to how well town departments serve residents, to whether the town attracts the right kinds of businesses, to name a few. Participants’ answers will range from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

The responses will be used to guide the Town Board as it decides what proposals and projects to fasttrack and which to reconsider.

The Town Board will have to approve the survey before it gets under way.

While only about 3 percent of citizens usually respond to such community surveys, Ciaburri and town officials are hoping at least 30 percent of residents and business owners will take part. In Victor, 30 percent would total about 3,450, not
including business owners, since the latest U.S. Census Bureau report listed the town's population as 11,500.

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